Miami-Dade man accused of helping cockfighters got probation on a similar charge in 2014
The Homestead man arrested Tuesday on three cockfighting related charges after Miami-Dade police hit his home with a search warrant has more than nodding familiarity with the Florida statutes’ “Animal Fighting Act.”
Right now, 52-year-old Andres Laguardia’s legal issues start with Florida Statute 822.122 charges for owning chickens to be used in cockfighting, owning cockfighting training equipment and having the chickens and the equipment on his property.
Laguardia was released Wednesday after posting $15,000 bond. He’s scheduled to enter a plea Nov. 8 at his arraignment.
In 2014, Laguardia plead guilty to a single count of attending an animal fight, but received withheld adjudication, a common practice for a first offense. Laguardia was put on a year’s probation with special conditions and he received an early probation termination after two months.
“Once the term of probation is successfully completed, the court is divested of jurisdiction and there is no adjudication of guilt,” the Florida Bar explains.
Laguardia’s criminal court history also includes getting contracting without a license and third-degree grand theft charges dropped in 2009 after completing a deferred prosecution program.
Roosters and a ring?
An arrest report says when Miami-Dade police entered 630 NE 14th St. with a search warrant, they found roosters with “shaved feathers, individually caged and numbered in the backyard, consistent with rooster fighting;” “a training ring with rooster agitators;” and, in a shed, “cockfighting paraphernalia, syringes, steroidal medicine and agitators.”
Police say a woman who has lived in the efficiency apartment behind the house for six years told them the chickens belonged to Laguardia. Laguardia’s father, the arrest report said, claimed his son takes care of the birds but a man the father doesn’t know pays Laguardia rent to keep the chickens.
